The nazis attempted to turn anti-Semitism into a science; physiognomy, skin color, eyes, nose. Europe in the middle ages chose the religion route. In the U.S. and elsewhere it’s been some kind of nebulous social thing, lurking in the background like a malignant tumor ready to spring into action.

Black Africans were considered by slave owners as chattel, and no matter how well documented their mental agility, the notion of their inferiority persists with people whose own mental prowess must be brought into question. Genghis Khan gave rise to the “Yellow Hordes” syndrome, but not really – any excuse would do, because prejudice needs no grounding in logic. In relation to women, prejudice is often replaced by outright arrogance; they should know their place at the feet of men, while some religions make it a canon that men are the supreme beings.

It is a testament to the endurance of prejudice that even enlightened societies find it necessary to enact legislation to combat it. In the U.S., for example, we need civil right legislation, anti-discrimination laws, gay rights legislation, and so on. And we walk erect. Civilized. Planning to colonize the heavens.

Beware, green people everywhere.

The first and most important thing the writer must learn to do is write a pitch letter. That’s a letter addressed to an agent that touts the attributes of the submitted work. It must be short, it must get the recipient interested, and it must convey the essence of the story. The writer must learn how to create advertising copy. Modesty not allowed.

If the pitch is successful (and there are as many notions about what makes a successful pitch as there are agents), the first five pages of the submitted work come into play. No matter that your novel consists of several hundred pages, the first five pages are critical – they are not critical to the quality of the entire work, but they are critical in the process of getting an agent. It’s unlikely that Crime and Punishment would have made the cut.

If it looks like you might have a saleable commodity, your biography is examined for signs that you can be a good salesman. Can you shine in an interview? Are you prepared to appear at book signings? And more to the point, do you have a business plan? (What are your ideas about promoting your book.)

Of course times have changed. Tragedies can be turned into Broadway musicals. Pamphlets might make excellent films. The commercial agents must keep abreast of what the market wants and proceed accordingly. When the printing press came into being only a privileged few wrote books and had them published. Today, writers are everywhere (the use of the word writer here is not suggestive of any qualitative attributes). But electronic publishing is about to cause fundamental changes. The future may well see the disappearance of both agents and conventional publishers, with the emergence of a class of discerning critics who will point the way to what is worth reading – literary agents?

Fifty years later the prediction doesn’t appear to have to come to pass, or hasn’t it? Wall Street is practically begging the consumer to go out and spend, since it would appear that upon consumer spending hinges the well being of the nation. Robots have not lived up to expectations, but the flood of products coming from China might as well be made by robots – they’re certainly not made by Americans. What no one predicted in 1960 was that the middle class would begin to disappear. It is a dangerous time because social change often leads to unpredictable consequences – revolutions, religious intolerance, wars. The answer for the new millennium likely hinges on redefining capitalism to be more inclusive: After abundance, enlightment.

You have doubtless come across ads for free credit reports, a ruse to get your credit card number and start charging you a monthly fee. You’ve also been exposed to car insurance ads touting the savings you can realize by comparing rates from other companies. If you’re over 65, there’s the bewildering maze of insurance offerings to supplement Medicare (and make Medicare a practical reality). The high cost of developing medicines is more than offset by profits that defy imagination, and the value of said medicines may be questionable in many cases (some manufacturers cheerfully inform their prospective customer that death is a possible side-effect, but not to worry – it’s FDA approved). The unfortunate reality is that unethical companies are run by unethical people. It will not be easy to replace criminal greed with a sense of ethics – besides, no one seems to be trying.